Don't Judge a Book By Its Label

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The old adage may ring true for books, but it is quite the contrary when it comes to labeling candles for retail sale. There is a lot more to a candle’s label than meets the eye. Aside from burning quality, the label is the one chance that a candle maker has to communicate with the purchaser or the end user of the candle. Although it may not cost much, the label is a very important aspect, and actually has a lot going on within that tiny piece of real estate on your finished product. It is a place for branding your candle, announcing features and benefits, safety instructions, information pertaining to flavor and size, UPC codes, contact information about the candle maker, website, and anything else that helps sell candles.

Welcome to the En-light-ener, Candlewic's
newsletter for the candle making community. We'd like to thank you for
your continued interest in this newsletter. If you have any suggestions
for topics you would like to have us write about, please send them.

Don't Judge a Book by its Label
The old adage may ring true for books, but it is quite the contrary when
it comes to labeling candles for retail sale. There is a lot more to
a candle’s label than meets the eye. Aside from burning quality,
the label is the one chance that a candle maker has to communicate with
the purchaser or the end user of the candle. Although it may not cost
much, the label is a very important aspect, and actually has a lot going
on within that tiny piece of real estate on your finished product. It
is a place for branding your candle, announcing features and benefits,
safety instructions, information pertaining to flavor and size, UPC codes,
contact information about the candle maker, website, and anything else
that helps sell candles.

Shipping Carton
The first thing your customers* see is the shipping carton when they
receive your candles (*customers are people who buy from you directly,
while consumers are the end user who burns the candle). Although many
candle makers do not put much effort into their shipping cartons, sometimes
it is necessary to pay attention to them. Be sure they are not covered
with wax that may accidentally end up in your customers’ store
carpets. Make the cartons and their contents easy to identify when
the cartons are in the stock rooms, so they can easily know how much
of your product they have on hand. Be sure to include re-order information
and pertinent web address information.

If you do nothing else, starting October 15th, 2003 there
is a label that all candles using zinc cored wicks must have
on the shipping cartons when being shipped to customer/retailers.
If you are using zinc-cored wicks, you must put a label that
states “Conforms to 16 CFR 1500.17(a)(13)” on
the outside of the shipping container. This label does not
have to be on each candle. If you are shipping an entire
pallet of candles, the label only has to be on the pallet – not
each carton. If you have further questions, please contact
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) at www.cpsc.gov or
speak with the National Candle Association, and they can
offer you more details.

CandlesThe
label that is applied to the actual candle must satisfy
a few basic requirements. It should fit neatly on the candle,
will not cause risk of fire, does not turn black from the
heat of the candles, and must contain all of the elements
that satisfy the requirements set forth by your insurance
company in regards to safety. Beyond that, it is up to
the candle maker to use the label as a chance to communicate
with the consumer.

Always be truthful in the claims or ingredients you put
on the label to promote good will and protect yourself from
legal issues! It is a great idea to communicate product attributes
that make your candle unique, such as extended burn times,
quality or natural ingredients, and percentage of profits
that go towards good causes. If you have a web site or toll-free
number that consumers may use, be sure that gets on the label
as well. Little things sometimes make a difference such as
being made in the USA, contains no lead, or the use of essential
oils will help boost consumer confidence when deciding which
candle to burn.

Always keep an eye out when you are in grocery stores or
department stores to see how large manufacturers of non-candle
related products label their products in hopes to discover
a neat idea. Another way to help distinguish your flavors
is to be creative with names by naming ordinary scents after
appetizing or familiar aromas. Instead of using the scent “orange”,
try “citrus explosion”, or instead of “baby
powder” try “newborn miracle”. A good label
will be concise and informative, yet not too busy. Balancing
out the components while getting the message across is the
key to having a successful label.

Property/Plant/Equipment
Remember, you and your employees are representing your candle line, so
why not label them too? When making deliveries, wear a shirt with your
logo on it and put your logo/contact information on the delivery vehicle
(magnets can be used on the side of personal vehicles). Always smile
and be courteous when making the deliveries. Be sure to “label” your
facility with a nice sign that shows pride. If you and your employees
emit a sense of pride in your candles, potential consumers will pick
up on the aura.

What is so Essential about Essential
Oils?
Now that Candlewic offers essential
oils, many people ask me what are they, and why would somebody need
to use them. Essential oils are oils that have been extracted from various
species of flowers, fruits, herbs, and plants. Many people consider essential
oil from plants, herbs and flowers as a very precious substance, because
the oil is an easy to use way to get the essence of a particular plant
without having to process the plant your self. Essential oils are used
in infinite ways by many different cultures around the world. Depending
on the type of oil, there are many medicinal, therapeutic, and homeopathic
uses for oils.

Candlewic’s line of essential oils is ideal for making
truly natural soaps and candles. When using the essential
oils in your candles and soaps, be sure you communicate to
your customers that essential oils were used so customers
realize why they may be paying a premium for your product.
Other uses for essential oils include aromatherapy diffusers,
potpourris, a few drops added straight into bath water or
Jacuzzi water, massage oils (mix roughly 10-20 drops of oil
to 1 ounce of pure vegetable oil), and creating your own
perfume (15-25 drops of an essential oil to 1 ounce of water
in a mist spray bottle). The list is endless.

Why are they so expensive?
Essential oils are pure and natural – they are not synthetically
made in a laboratory. Depending on the plant and extraction process,
it takes a lot of plant matter to make a small amount of oil. For example,
it takes roughly 200 pounds of lavender flowers to produce 1 pound of
lavender oil. That is 200 pounds of lavender flowers that could be used
for all sorts of other uses such as teas, pillows, and soap additives
besides oil extraction. When you buy one pound of essential oil, you
are actually purchasing 200 pounds of lavender – but without having
to extract the oil yourself.

Quick Facts:

When adding fragrance or additives,
the following table will help guide you with any amount
necessary (for example to reach 8% simply add the 5%
+ 3% = 8%)

Making
hand rolled candles from beeswax
sheets is both fun and profitable. They do not
require melting the wax, so kids can join in on the
fun as well (kids are allowed to make them, but adult
supervision is required to burn them – sorry
kids). You can make pillars, votives, tapers and
shaped novelty candles all from the same sheets.
The possibilities are endless and only limited by
the candle maker’s imagination. The following
project is to help get you started on the basics,
but you will find that once you start playing with
the sheets, it is amazing to see the unique candles
that can be made. Future issues of the Enlightener
will contain more advanced projects, so learn the
basics now.

Basic Rolled Pillar

Ingredients:
Beeswax Sheet
Square Braided Wick

Step 1
Warm the wax sheet slightly with a hair dryer (if necessary). Warming
the wax will make it easier to work with in cooler room temperatures.
Just a slight heat is needed – do not melt the wax.

Step 2
Cut sheets long ways so the width of the newly cut sheet will be
the height of the finished candle.

Step 3
Place sheet shiny side down, and position wick as shown below.
The wick should be offset ½ inch so it extends ½ inch
past the top and ½ inch from the bottom.

Step 4
Carefully fold the wax over the wick trying to keep the edge as
round as possible and keep rolling firmly like you would roll
a sleeping bag or like how paper towels are rolled around the
cardboard tube.

Step 5
Keep the top and bottom of the wax even as you firmly roll the
wax. The end result will be a tightly rolled candle with a flat
top and bottom that looks sort of like a fire cracker. You can
add more sheets to make the diameter of the finished candle as
large as you want butting the ends of each sheet as you go (do
not overlap – but them up against each other nice and straight).

Step 6
When the last sheet has been rolled, press the last seem down tightly
against the candle with your thumb and it is ready to light.

The possibilities are endless.
You can alternate colors, creatively cut the sheets
at angles so the outside wrap spirals up the candle,
and even use a cookie cutter to cut shapes out
of the outer wrap. Some examples of the above project
can be seen on our web site by clicking
here.

Candlewic Now
Offers
Soap Making Supplies!

We
are excited to announce that Candlewic now is offering
Soap Making Supplies in addition to our Candle
Making Supplies. We know many of you produce both
candles and soap, so we hope this makes your shopping
and buying process more convenient. When you're
finished reading the newsletter, go
to our web site and take a look!

As an Introductory
Special, we are offering FREE
SHIPPING* on your soap products when you
order $50 or more of soap products. (Candle making
products are not included. Be sure to read the sale
details.)

*Shipping
charges will appear in your cart, but we will
refund the shipping on your soap making products
if you order $50 or more of soap making products.

New
Site Feedback Contest Winner!We
were overwhelmed with the response to our new
site feedback contest. There were many kind
words and several very good suggestions that
we are working on for future improvements.

The winner of the Candlewic gift certificate,
selected randomly from all entries, was Lisa Atkisson.